Only three in 1,000 Waterloo Region residents’ diets conform to current nutrition recommendations, which is less than the national average of five out of 1,000 people.

According to Leia Minaker, a University of Waterloo researcher, the remaining 99.7 per cent are giving in to a food environment with six times more unhealthy food choices within one kilometre of their homes than healthy ones.

“We found there was three times as much shelf space dedicated to the junk food as there was fruits and vegetables,” she said.

In a recent study, part of Newpath, a collaboration with the Universities of British Columbia, Alberta and Waterloo, researchers assessed 1,334 retail food establishments, including convenience and grocery stores, and measured the shelf space used for fruits and vegetables and junk food.

They also looked at food diaries of 1,170 people in 690 households in 2009 and obtained self-reported records of height, weight and waist circumference.

“Most of them were eating diets we would consider as ‘needs improving,’ and 39 per cent [had] diets that were considered poor quality,” Minaker said in a recent presentation to regional council.

The methodology also included looking at the quality of healthy foods, variety and prices.

And price can be a barrier.

“If someone is going into a grocery store thinking I would like to buy a bag of chips, they are probably going to go for the super delicious high-fat, high-salt option, in part because they are much more affordable than the baked chip option,” she said.

According to Minaker, unhealthy diets aren’t just a product of individual choices, it’s also because of the food environment and a saturation of unhealthy food options, rather than a lack of healthy ones.

“I find this a bit shocking because there is a really strong perception in our culture that if you are overweight you eat too much and it’s your fault,” she said, adding choices are made because of the convenience of unhealthy food options. “We found that access to unhealthy food was more of a determinant than access to healthy food.”

The Region of Waterloo’s Public Health Unit will work with local retailers to reduce consumers’ access to unhealthy foods.